New evidence on child mortality in Iraq

Abstract

This paper examines new evidence on the level and trend of child mortality in Iraq. Until recently, it has generally been thought that there was a sharp rise in the level of child mortality in the country during the early 1990s as a result of the first Gulf war and the accompanying United Nations economic sanctions. The main basis for this view was a survey conducted in 1999. However, estimates of the level and trend in child mortality are now available from two additional surveys. Neither of the new sets of estimates show any sign of a sharp increase in child mortality in the early 1990s. Therefore it seems probable that, as was suggested by a report in 2005, the 1999 survey data were deliberately manipulated by the then government of Iraq.